Nordic Adventures Part 3: Stockholm

Over the summer of 2024 I took a trip through Finland, Estonia, Sweden and Denmark - 4 countries in 12 days. Using plane, boat, car and train to move around, I had a great time exploring places that I hadn't been to before. This is the third blog of 4, each focussed on one of the places I visited. My third stop took me to Stockholm, the capital of Sweden.

The above map covers most the spots I visited during my trip, to give you an idea of where everything is located relative to one another.

Sailing to Stockholm - The Silja Line

Like in part 2 of my Nordic adventure blogs, we opted to use the ferry to get from Helsinki to Stockholm. However unlike my trip to Tallinn, this journey required an overnight stay on one of the Silja Line cruise ships. We boarded the ferry at 17:00 in Helsinki, and soon after we had navigated our way through the Finnish archipelago and were moving through the Baltic Sea. I use the word 'ferry' in my previous sentence, however in reality these ferries can be thought of as mini cruise ships! The Silja Symphony had a whole range of facilities on board to keep you occupied, including:

• A promenade (high street) running through the centre of the ship with shops, restaurants and bars
• Tax-free superstores
• Spa, viewing deck and children's playroom
• Evening entertainment, a casino and a club.

Depending on your budget, there are a range of rooms to choose from to suit your wallet. The cheaper rooms are situated in the bottom of the ship, below the main deck as they have no windows, with more rooms getting more spacious as you climb higher in the ship.

The Baltic Sea was pretty calm throughout our journey, and so didn't notice that we were on a ship overnight. As we arrived into Stockholm harbour the following morning, we made our way to the skydeck to get our first glimpse of the Swedish archipelago. Our journey to Stockholm was complete. Time to start exploring the third city on our travels!

Things to do in Stockholm

Stockholm Walking Tour

Once again, GuruWalk was the app we used to find a free walking tour that was taking place on a day that suited us. Stockholm definitely feels bigger than Tallinn and Helsinki, however if you're staying in a central location it is still very walkable.

Our start point for the walking tour was in Gamla Stan, the medieval centre of Stockholm. Most of the buildings in Gamla Stan date from the 16th and 17th centuries, spread over 4 islands. Something to note about free walking tours is that they operate on a 'pay what you feel' basis, so it's worth having some cash to hand. Some Stockholm trivia I picked up included:

• The word Stockholm = 'Stock' (log) + 'holm' (island), i.e., an island of logs. Stockholm was originally surrounded by logs to sink ships.
• Traditionally the main exports of Stockholm have been wood and iron.
• The steeple of Riddarholm Church is made of iron - this also functions as a way to advertise what Stockholm can export
• Runestones were used to capture meanings and messages - the stones have been found to be used as building material.
• When walking around Gamla Stan, you may see small pillars on the corners of buildings. This was originally used to prevent damage from large wagons as they would drive around a corner, occasionally chipping away at the wall of a house.
• A phoenix gold crest on a building showed it had insurance - in the event of a fire these buildings would be priorities to be saved first.
• Windows were a symbol of wealth, so they were taxed.

Vasa Museum

The Vasa Museum in my opinion is a must-see attraction when in Stockholm. As you enter the building and your eyes adjust to the dimmed lighting, towering above you is the world's best preserved 17th century ship, at 98% original - the Vasa. This warship sank on its maiden voyage in Stockholm on the 10th of August, 1628. After 333 years on the seabed, it was salvaged, restored and displayed to the public. The museum offers free guided tours in a range of languages, which was a really good way to learn more about the Vasa:

• At it's time, the warship Vasa was the most armoured ship, carrying 64 cannons.
• Gustavo II Adolf ordered the warship to be built in 1625. It was meant to be a statement of Sweden's power and might, covered in over 800 hand carved statues, with plenty of red and gold to make the ship stand out.
• As it set sail on it's maiden voyage, the heavy cannons were too high up in the ship, leading to a poor weight distribution and capsizing of the Vasa.
• The remarkable fact that 98% of the Vasa is original is due to the brackish nature of the Baltic Sea, meaning bacteria that usually eat wood did not exist.

Archipelago Tour

Whilst Finland has the largest archipelago by area, Stockholm takes the title for the largest archipelago by the number of islands, with over 30,000. The Stockholm Archipelago Tour took us on a 3 hour trip through some of the many islands, with guided commentary on the history of the islands. As we ventured further away from the city centre, many of these islands had summer houses on them - looking very peaceful indeed. The larger archipelago islands had entire townships on them, with people commuting into Stockholm for work.

Moderna Museet

On Friday evenings from 6-8pm, Moderna Museet in Stockholm has free admission. Often when I find myself walking round an art gallery, I don't really know what to look for or appreciate. Hence the evening guided tour here was a great way to get a high level understanding about some of the pieces in the museum. Moderna Museet has a range of exhibitions, and the tour focused on the Seven Rooms and a Garden exhibition.

IKEA

You can't have visited Sweden without visiting an IKEA! More for a bit of fun than anything else, we popped into IKEA City in Stockholm and did some window shopping. You can easily spend a couple of hours here, especially if you then grab some lunch at their restaurant.

Stockholm Royal Palace

Throughout the Nordic countries, most of the cities have a royal palace of some sort in them, so we picked one to visit. The Royal Palace in Stockholm is The King's official residence and the setting for many formal events. It has more than 600 rooms divided over 11 floors. The guided tour is worth doing if visiting, as it gives you some context on each room as you pass - book this in advance. Whilst in the Royal Palace you feel as if you've been transported back to another era where the lifestyle, cultures and traditions are very different from today.

Plant based in Stockholm

Stockholm was great for plant based eats - I had no problem eating varied and yummy food during my 4 days there! Here are just some of the spots I paid a visit to.

Kaffe Plattan

Hands down the best place I ate at in Stockholm. Kaffee Plattan is a 100% vegan spot, located on the bottom floor of Kulturhuset, Sergels Torg, Sweden. They offer everything, from salands, wraps and bowls to desserts and coffee. It was so good we ended up going there twice for food.

Restaurang Panda

If you're looking for a warm, homely feel restaurant, Restaurang Panda is your spot for Chinese food. With plant-based options always available on the menu and located close by to Stockholm Central Station, it's a nice spot for lunch or dinner. We ordered the vegetable dumplings, mapo tofu and seasonal veggies with rice.

Verte

Verte is a restaurant and bar serving only plant-based dishes inspired by food from all over the world. They have a quote outside their restaurant that reads "People eat meat and think they will become as strong as an ox, forgetting that the ox eats grass" which I particularly liked.

And with that, my time in Stockholm was over! It had a different vibe to Helsinki and Tallinn, which were all unique in their own ways. A word on logistics - finding accommodation and getting around Stockholm was super easy, with great public transport networks (even from the cruise ship terminals!). My final blog post will conclude my Nordic travels....stay tuned!

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